Pottery is a type of ceramic material, which the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) has defined as "(a)ll fired ceramic wares that contain clay when formed, except technical, structural, and refractory products." The term pottery is also used for a technique involving ceramics, where clay is mixed with other minerals and is formed into objects, including vessels generally designed for utilitarian purposes.

A Pottery is a facility of any size, from a modest studio to an industrialized factory, where pottery is made. Where resources are available - raw materials, workers, transportation - groups of potteries may exist. Due to the large number of pottery factories, or colloquially 'Pot Banks', the City of Stoke-on-Trent in England became known as The Potteries. The Potters is the nickname of the local football club, Stoke City F.C.. The same name is used for sports teams in the one-time "Pottery Capital of the World," East Liverpool, Ohio.

Pottery production is a process where wet clay body, clay mixed with other minerals, is shaped and allowed to dry. The formed clay body, or piece, may be "bisque or biscuit fired" in a kiln to induce permanent changes that result in increased mechanical strength, and then fired a second time after adding a glaze or a piece may be once fired by applying appropriate glaze to the dry unfired clay and firing in one cycle.